This invention relates to a board game played by plural players and the method of play thereof.
In some of conventional board games in which plural players play against their opponents, pieces of each player are initially set on a play filed on which the advancing path patterns of the pieces are depicted. The plural players in turn advance their pieces along the advancing path according to the rules of the game. When a player""s piece gets in a predetermined positional relationship with a piece(s) of the opponent(s), the player eliminates the opponent""s (opponents"") piece(s) from the play field (or from the board) according to the predetermined power of each of his/her piece.
In the conventional board games as mentioned above in which pieces are just moved along the predetermined advancing path(s), the advancing paths are limited to certain alternatives and it is difficult for the game to develop in an unexpected way. It is also difficult for the game to develop in an unexpected way when the game is played with pieces which only possess given predetermined power. In addition, when a game is played with predetermined pieces, players"" interest in the game tends to wither in an early stage of the game. Furthermore, in the conventional board games, development of the game is often carried out only by advancing pieces and no other factors are involved in the development of the game. Therefore in the conventional board games players"" strategies are inevitably simple, therefore it is difficult for players"" strategic interest to culminate until player""s piece and the opponent""s (opponents"") piece(s) start fighting. As a result, it was not easy in the conventional board games to give fun of working out a strategy in the game to the players in the initial stage of the game. Also in the conventional board games, conditions for wielding or exerting power of each piece is simple, and naturally the development of the game is simple, so it has been difficult for a dramatic development of the game such as one decisive attack to upturn the fighting condition to take place.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing disadvantage of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a board game and method of play there of which is capable of providing a game with unexpected development and giving more satisfaction than the conventional board games.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a board game and method of play thereof in which advancing path pattern of each piece varies everytime players play the game.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a board game and method of play thereof in which the fun of elaborating strategies in the game increases in the development of the game.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a board game and method of the play thereof in which costs (charges) necessary for playing the game can be easily saved in the development of the game.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a board game and the method of play thereof in which the degree of damage of each piece can be easily recognized.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a board game and the method of play thereof in which player""s own game components and those of the other player""s (players"") can be identified surely.
It is still another object to provide a board game and method of play thereof in which unexpected development of the game can be realized by providing a rule that each piece cannot attack or defend without paying necessary costs (charges) while the piece is originally given certain power to wield or exert.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a board game and the method of play thereof in which unused pieces and the pieces which have turned out to be considered as destroyed in the development of the game are instantly distinguished.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a board game and method of play thereof in which players can prepare their selected pieces freely from among various pieces and establish different strategies based on the pieces.
The board game of the present invention comprises a play field having a plurality of polygonal grids which extend continuously and a plurality of game component sets used by a plurality of players for the play thereof. Play field may be made with any material such as paper or board, as far as it is in a form of a sheet. The shape of polygonal grids may be triangle, square or pentagon, etc. Generally it is preferable that the grid is in a shape of regular polygon as the unfolded die is placed on the play field, which step will be described in the following. Also predetermined grids on the play field whose number equals to that of the possible players are depicted differently from the rest of the grids. For example those grids may be colored differently from the rest of the grids for identifying purpose. By providing such easily identifiable grids, the initial placement of the unfolded die can be regulated in various ways according to the rules with such identifiable grids as the guide.
The game component set includes a plurality of dice, a plurality of pieces having visually identifiable features and belonging to predetermined plural groups and/or predetermined plural levels and a plurality of cards corresponding to each piece which respectively show identification of the piece, capacity (special power, effect, etc.), conditions in which power within capacity can be wielded or exerted, and group and/or level the piece belongs to.
First of all a die consists of a polyhedron having n (n is an integer which is 3 or more) polygonal plates which have the substantially same shape and dimension with the grids of the play field and are connected with one another. The die of polyhedron can be unfolded in the present invention. Each of the n polygonal plates is connected to specific adjacent polygonal plates in such a manner that each of said n polygonal plates is so as to be connected to those specific adjacent polygonal plates when the die (polyhedron) is unfolded two-dimensionally. N polygonal plates consisting a die may be formed integrally with synthetic resin material. In this instance joining portions where two adjacent plates are joined and connecting portions and connected portions which are used to fix up a die may also be integrally formed with synthetic resin material. A die may also be formed with a foldable sheet such as paper.
On the outside of the dice, a plurality of marks are depicted. Those marks include Die-Unfolding Mark which is a decisive factor for unfolding a die, Advancement Mark which permits saving a cost (or a charge) necessary for advancing a piece, more than one (1) Execution Marks which permits saving a cost (or a charge) necessary for wielding or exerting power of a piece and more than one (1) Identification Marks which show the group and/or level to which a piece belongs to. The above mentioned more than one (1) Execution Marks may include Attack Mark which permits saving a cost (or a charge) for attacking (one of powers of each piece), Defense Mark which permits saving a cost (or a charge) for defending (one of powers of each piece) and more than one (1) Special Ability Marks which permit saving a cost (or a charge) for wielding or exerting a predetermined special ability by a piece. These Die-Unfolding Mark, Advancement Mark, Execution Mark and Identification Mark may be depicted with at least one of the factors of color, figure, pattern, symbol or letter. By combining these factors, it is possible to depict more marks on the outside of a polygon. As a result, it is possible to depict a Die-Unfolding Mark, an Advancement Mark and more than 2 selected marks from Execution Marks and Identification Marks on the outside of a polygon. Therefore by rolling a small number of dice, players can enjoy a wide variety of alternatives. When a plurality of marks are depicted on the outside of a polygon, the size of the marks are arbitrary. One mark may be depicted inside another mark if both are identifiable from each other. Also beside one mark, another mark may be depicted in a smaller size as an accompanying letter or mark.
Powers of a piece include, for example, attacking power, defending power, special power of wielding or exerting a predetermined attacking or defending power, power to form a way of escape, power to entrap, power to mine, etc.
It is preferable to depict a Position Mark on inside of at least one of n polygonal plates which mark shows a position where a piece is placed. With such a Position Mark it is possible to place a piece on a specific polygonal plate when a rule for the initial position of a piece is made. In addition if the Position Mark is arranged in such a manner that a player can write on the Position Mark for the player to identify the die as his or hers, the player can easily collect his/her dice looking for the writing on the Position Mark.
A piece comprises a base which is placed on the play field and a featuring portion which is set on the base and capable of showing the direction. If such pieces are integrally formed with synthetic resin material, pieces can be made in a large quantity at a low cost. The featuring portion may be in any shape as far as the front and rear sides can be identified. The featuring portions of course may be in a figure of animal, man, imaginary animal (monster), etc. Especially when the figure of an animal is used for a piece, it is easily understood that the direction the animal is facing is the front without making any regulations as to the direction of a piece. Also the piece may have a shape which features the capacity (of power) of the piece. It is preferable to provide a piece with a portion on which a player can write to identify his/her piece. With such writing on each piece, the player can easily collect his/her pieces after the game.
Among the pieces which are featured by the descriptions on cards corresponding to respective pieces, there are attacking target-type pieces having defending power, attacking power and sustaining power and effect-demonstrating type pieces which only have predetermined effects. For example, on a card for an attacking-target type piece, defending power, attacking power, and sustaining power are indicated with numerals and/or volume. Also costs which are necessary for wielding or exerting such powers are shown. Defending power means a capacity or power of a piece which power is deducted from the opponent""s attacking power to weaken the attacking power of the opponent""s piece. Sustaining power means a power which can sustain the existence of a piece until the numeral thereof becomes zero (0) by the attacking power of the opponent being deducted from the sustaining power after the defending power of the piece has become zero (0). As all these numerals are indicated on each card, each player can enjoy the game using plural pieces without memorizing all powers of each piece. It is preferable also to depict, on each card corresponding to a piece, Execution Mark necessary for a piece to demonstrate the ability thereof. With this indication, each player need not memorize the necessary cost for demonstrating an ability of a piece and the player can pursue the game smoothly. In addition, each piece need not be given all of Attacking Power, Defending Power and Sustaining Power. Sustaining Power may be set at zero (0), or the three powers (Attacking Power, Defending Power and Sustaining Power) may all be set at zero (0) and Special Ability or Special Effect may be given to a piece to wield, exert or demonstrate instead.
It is preferable to include in a game component set an Addition/Deduction Unit having plural Addition/Deduction Display portions corresponding to Advancement Mark and more than one (1) Execution Marks. With this Addition/Deduction Unit a player need not memorize or write down the numeral (point) of each mark or increase or decrease of cost of each mark but can record surely such numeral (point) or increase or decrease of cost. Thus the development of the game is speedy. It is preferable for the Advancement Mark, Attack Mark, Defence Mark and more than one (1) Special Ability Marks to be depicted adjacent to Addition/Deduction Display portions of the Addition/Deduction Unit. With such indication players can add or deduct points speedily without being puzzled.
It is also preferable to include in a game component set plural marbles (chip-like parts) which are shaped like candy drops and can be placed on a card. These marbles can indicate to the players the decrease of Sustaining Power of a specific piece by placing on a card such number of the marbles as corresponds to the actual decrease of Sustaining Power during the game. Thus the game development is carried out smoothly.
In the method of play of the present invention players can pursue the game using the above mentioned board game according to specific rules. In these rules each player has his/her turn in order and in each turn each player carries out the following steps (a)-(f).
(a) Die-Rolling Stepxe2x80x94Each player chooses plural dice from among his/her dice in his/her game component set and roll those dice on a dice rolling place.
(b) Die-Unfolding Stepxe2x80x94When a Die-Unfolding Mark is respectively included among the judgement objects depicted on the outside of the polygonal plates of the predetermined number of dice, each player will unfold (or open up) two-dimensionally a die having a Die-Unfolding Mark and place the unfolded die on a play field to cover n grids which are connected to one another.
(c) Piece-Placement Stepxe2x80x94Each player chooses, according to the group and/or level recognized from the plural dice rolled on a play field, one piece from among pieces he/she owns in his/her game component set. Each player then places the piece on one of the polygonal plates constituting said unfolded die.
(d) Cost-Saving Stepxe2x80x94Both when a die is unfolded and when not, each player can save the number of marks, whether they may be Advancement Marks and/or Execution Marks when such marks are included among the judgement objects depicted on the outside of the polygonal plates of dice. Each player save the number of marks which appeared as costs for each mark.
(e) Advancement/Attack Stepxe2x80x94Each player advances a piece on the play field and/or make a piece wield or exert power to attack or destroy one of the opponent""s pieces by paying the predetermined cost from among the saved costs.
(f) Closing-Stepxe2x80x94Each player ends his/her turn after carrying out Advancement Step and/or Attack Step or without carrying out those steps.
Each player in order executes the above steps and the unfolded dice will form an advancing path pattern for pieces. Also in each turn each player can save costs for making his/her pieces used for fighting to wield or exert power. When a piece stands on an advancing path pattern and a player owns costs saved for making the piece wield or exert power thereof, the player can advance his/her piece or execute other actions. Therefore each player can enjoy the game by advancing his/her piece or, in some cases, by making the piece demonstrate specific ability or power thereof even before the fighting between the player""s piece and that of the opponent""s starts.
When a rule is set as a player can defend his/her piece and also attack and destroy the opponent""s piece by paying the costs even during the opponent""s turn, each player can fight against his/her opponent demonstrating the ability or power of his/her piece placed on the play field to the full extent.
A Master Piece which is the proxy of a player may be included among various pieces classified into plural groups and levels in a game component set. When a Master Piece is included in a game, it is preferable for the Master Piece to be placed on the play field from the beginning of the game. In this instance it is preferable that a specific grid on which the Master Piece is placed should be arranged to be easily distinguished from other grids. Deciding the capacity or power of the Master Piece is arbitrary. For example, the lower the capacity or power of the Master Piece, the more important the strategy for defending the Master Piece in a game becomes, and a player can have more fun in elaborating his/her strategy for the game.
By deciding steps which should be taken during a turn as mentioned above, each player is, in a series of actions, supposed to select a die to be unfolded, to form an advancing path pattern with the unfolded die, to select a piece, to save cost necessary for pursuing the game and to decide whether or not it is necessary to advance his/her piece or attack the opponent""s piece therewith by paying the cost and carry out his/her decision. In this instance, the development of a game varies greatly depending on a combination of plural decisions during one turn. Therefor each player can change his/her strategy for the game enjoying the selections during each turn, which will enable unexpected development of the game as compared to the conventional board games and will give more satisfaction to players. Moreover in the present invention, a die is unfolded to form an advancing path pattern. Such advancing path pattern will vary in each game, therefor the game development will naturally be different in each game. Thus players can enjoy the game for longer period of time in comparison with other conventional board games.
Especially when a rule is set forth so that as a player can defend his/her piece and attack or destroy the opponent""s piece by paying the necessary cost for such an action during the opponent""s turn for advancement and attack steps, the player can have a real-time fight against the opponent. In this instance a speedy game development can be realized as other fighting games, even if a turn include a plurality of actions of selection for a player.
The rule need not specifically regulate how an unfolded die should be placed on the play field. However, by regulating this point, working out a strategy becomes more difficult. For example, a rule may be set forth as at the first Piece-Placement Step each player is required to place his/her unfolded die to cover at least one grid which is adjacent to the grid on which his/her Master Piece is placed. In the following Die-Unfolding Steps each player is required to place his/her unfolded die not to overlap the already-placed unfolded die and yet to place his/her unfolded die to cover at least one of the grids adjacent to the grids which are covered by the already-placed unfolded die. In this instance each player can save necessary costs until his/her dice touch his/her opponents dice, thus the game can be developed smoothly.
In another rule setting, each player may advance his/her piece along an advancing path pattern formed by unfolded dice in order and when his/her piece gets in a predetermined positional relationship with the opponent""s piece, the player is allowed to attack the opponent""s piece or the opponent""s Master Piece. In this instance, although the attacking conditions are limited to certain extent, players can fight against opponents while saving costs (even with a small amount of costs saved).
As for the winning or losing of a piece, the rule may be set forth as, for example, a piece under attack whose Sustaining Power is decreasing because of the opponent""s piece whose Attacking Power surpasses the piece""s Defending Power is regarded as destroyed when its Life Power goes down to zero (0). In this arrangement one fight between a player""s piece and that of the opponent usually does not end up in a winning or loosing of a piece, therefore players can enjoy the game for a relatively long time using even a small number of pieces. Furthermore the rule may be set forth that a piece is placed on the corresponding card until the piece is placed on an unfolded die placed on the play field. When a player""s piece is destroyed in a game (has lost in a fight against the opponent""s piece), the rule may set forth that the corresponding card of the piece is turned over and the piece is placed on the turned-over card or the piece is laid on the card. In such arrangement it is clear to players which pieces can be used and which cannot. Also players can pursue the game recognizing the pieces the opponents have and enjoy a fair game.
While the numbers of the plural dice and the pieces of plural kinds are fixed to the regulated numerals according to the rule, it is preferable for each player to be able to choose plural dice and pieces of plural kinds from his/her own stock. In this instance, from the point of choosing dice and pieces from the stock, the strategy formation starts and strategic variation increases. Players also will have more fun in increasing a stock.
Winning or losing may be decided within a discretion of players. However, when Master Pieces are used, the rule may be set forth as follows. When a Master Piece has incurred a predetermined amount of damage, the owner of the Master Piece is determined to have lost the game. In this instance, not only attacking but also defending is a significant factor of strategy and players can enjoy the game fully.